The Sports Turf Management: Best Practices course will cover the construction, management, and challenges in maintaining athletic fields intended for football, soccer, and baseball. You will learn the fundamental management practices for maintaining athletic fields, such as fertilization, irrigation, mowing, and pest control. An overview of athletic field construction, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of native soil versus modified soil fields, will be provided. Lastly, you will explore the effects of traffic and compaction on athletic fields and the development of artificial turf. This course is a non-credit course that is part of the College of ACES suite of online programs. To learn more about online programs from the College of ACES and explore ways to apply your work toward a degree program at the University of Illinois, visit acesonline.illinois.edu.
What you'll learn
Apply fundamental turf management practices including fertilization, irrigation, mowing, and pest control for athletic fields
Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of native soil versus modified soil athletic field construction
Understand the effects of traffic and compaction on athletic field quality and performance
Recognize the development and applications of artificial turf systems in sports facilities
Course objectives
Teach construction principles and management techniques for football, soccer, and baseball athletic fields
Provide practical knowledge of turf maintenance practices used in sports facility management
Explore solutions to common challenges in maintaining high-traffic athletic playing surfaces